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Thursday, April 24, 2014

A Brand New Cub

The Cubs made some roster moves today, necessitated by Justin Ruggiano injuring himself as he blew Wrigley's birthday game yesterday. Ok, maybe that's not fair and I'm bitter, but that's not the point.

Anyway, Ruggiano has been placed on the 15-Day disabled list due to hamstring issues. So, he gets the dubious honor of being the first Cub to hit the DL (minus those who started the year there) in 2014.

At the same time, the Cubs bullpen has been horrendous lately and needs a bit of a makeover; so, Blake Parker has been demoted back to Iowa and two relievers have been called up.

Why does this all matter to Wrigley Roster Jenga? Well, it means that the Cubs have called up a brand new Cub!

Zac Rosscup has already been up - September call-up last year and once this year as the 26th man for a double header. But, righty Neil Ramirez is joining a MLB roster for the very first time; welcome to the roster jenga Neil!

Luckily, I just so happened to have this card laying around - a random, lucky pull from a repack box back when he was still in the Rangers system. I also found a Jake Arrieta card from the same set in that box... maybe the box was psychic?

Ramirez was acquired from Texas in the Matt Garza trade of 2013 as the "player to be named later." In the Rangers system, the 2007 first round draft pick was a highly touted rotation prospect until arm injuries derailed his progress, somewhat. Thus, the Rangers were a little more willing to let him go.

He pitched well in spring training with the Cubs and has been pitching in relief at AAA Iowa. His numbers are pretty ugly, 7.71 ERA in 7 innings, but it's a really small sample size. He's got a live arm and he's only 2 days younger than I am (meaning he's not yet 25); he could make the Garza trade even more of a steal!

Ramirez becomes the 3rd man from the Garza trade to make the parent club